La Canfora: 4 Matchups To Watch For In Patriots-Ravens Game
BOSTON (CBS) - You may have heard, but there's a big game taking place in Foxboro on Saturday afternoon.
To help preview Patriots-Ravens, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones had on NFL insider Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports Tuesday night to break it all down.
"I think the Patriots have proven, once again, that they're the best team in the AFC. They play a tough schedule every year because they're always playing the first place schedule, because they always winning their division. They got that first seed for good reason more often than not," La Canfora said.
"Certainly they're the best team in the AFC, but matchups dictate everything. Is Baltimore the best matchup in the world for New England? No. Saying all that, the Patriots are favored in Vegas for a reason."
Speaking of matchups, there's a few that La Canfora is looking at more closely.
Patriots Offensive Line vs. Ravens Defensive Line
"I want to see that Patriots offensive line and how they handle a guy like Haloti Ngata, who is a handful even when he's kind of limping along at this point in the season, which has often been the case. But now [Ngata] has had one game back after resting for four weeks because of an Adderall suspension. Ngata is as healthy as he's ever been in January, and he's going to be incredibly motivated because the Ravens are going to have to restructure his contract, or do something with him at the end of the year. So, can he wreak havoc on some of the younger guys on the interior of that offensive line?"
Ravens Tight End vs. Patriots Safeties/Linebackers
"I'm not so worried about who covers which guys, who covers Steve Smith or who covers Torrey Smith. [Brandon] Browner, [Darrelle] Revis, whichever one [they cover], those guys will be shut down. Bill Belichick is not going to let Steve Smith or Torrey Smith win. But can Owen Daniels win against one of their safeties? McCourty or whoever. Or can Daniels win against some of their linebackers? How does that play out?"
Ravens Offensive Line vs. Patriots Defensive Line
"What will the Ravens offensive line look like? Does Eugene Monroe come back to left tackle? And if so, then that means Marshal Yanda probably goes back to guard and handles Vince Wilfork a little more, but then you've got an undrafted rookie in James Hurst at right tackle. Does Chandler Jones move around a lot, and is he able to exploit [Hurst] in some way? What kind of stunts do they run and throw at him?"
Ravens Secondary vs. Patriots Pass Catchers
"The Baltimore secondary has been woeful all year, and the guy on paper who's their best player, Ladarius Webb, hasn't been healthy. Big Ben [Roethlisberger] was picking on him all last weekend. So does Tom Brady find a guy to pick on, whether it's Webb or [Rashaan] Melvin? Can the Patriots line hold up, so they can spread out the Ravens and feast on that secondary? Now maybe they're not able to, but I think in a perfect world Belichick will say screw the run game, kind of like the Detroit game. We're not going to be able to run the ball a whole bunch on them, but we're going to take our shots throwing it 50 times on these guys, and we bet Brady finds a mismatch more often than not. But again, you've got to protect Brady as part of that."
Listen below for the full interview, including La Canfora's take on the Brady restructuring, Darrelle Revis' contract situation and much more:
Tune in to Saturday's Patriots-Ravens AFC Divisional Round playoff game on 98.5 The Sports Hub -- the flagship station of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins at 1:30pm with Patriots Preview, and stay tuned for three full hours of postgame coverage following the game. Tune in to a special edition of Patriots GameDay on WBZ-TV at 11:30am on Saturday, with Patriots 5th Quarter on myTV38 immediately following the game.
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